It looked like it was going to be a nice day, but she could see from the trees swaying outside that it was a little breezy. Her hair blowing around in the wind would drive her nuts if she didn’t pull it back. She slipped out of the bedroom and headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth. It wasn’t long before the three of them met downstairs.
“I’m sorry, but your dad and I need the car today,” Holly heard Katie telling Steven. “You guys can ride your bikes, can’t you?”
“But what about Holly?” he asked as she entered the living room. “It’s not like she’s got a bike to ride.”
“Holly can ride mine,” Katie suggested. “It should be perfect for her. She and I are about the same height.”
Steven looked a little disappointed, but Lissa smiled at him. “It’s been a long time since we’ve ridden our bikes. It won’t be that bad.”
“That’s the spirit,” Katie said as she stood up from the couch. “I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but there’s plenty to eat for lunch.” She gave each of them a hug goodbye and left.
“Have you heard back from anyone?” Holly asked as she sat down on the couch next to them.
“Allison says she’s home. I thought we could go see her first,” Steven said. “I’m still waiting to hear back from Leah and Carrie. Since it’s summer vacation, who knows when they may get back to me. For all I know, they might both sleep until noon.”
“There’s no way Allison did it,” Lissa said as they headed outside to the garage. There were white puffy clouds moving across the blue sky casting shadows in places. It was nice when one would move in front of the sun, giving them a moment of respite before shining brightly again.
“Why do you say that?” Holly asked as she watched her cousins uncover the bicycles. They were tucked in the far corner of the garage with a lot of other things in front of them like lawn chairs, a badminton set, and a couple of bags of potting soil.
“She’s the smartest girl in her grade, well, besides Chloe,” she shrugged.
“From the way Steph was talking, that would be a perfect reason,” Steven pointed out. They’d finally gotten the bikes out and pushed one over to Holly. It was a deep red with a wire basket on the front. She couldn’t imagine her aunt riding it, and from the amount of dust on it, she obviously hadn’t for quite a while. They checked the tires before pushing the bikes out of the garage and closing the door behind them.
“What do you mean?” Lissa asked as they climbed on.
“Think about it. Stephanie said people were getting tired of always being the runner-up to Chloe. Maybe Allie wants to be noticed as being the smartest?” Steven shrugged. “Maybe she feels like Chloe is standing in her spotlight?”
“People have done worse for a lot less of a reason,” Holly muttered. “If she wants to be seen as the smartest, that would be a big motive. Plus, I’d say whoever did this was pretty smart.”
“Yeah, you have a point,” Lissa said sadly.
After a short ride, they stopped in front of a small yellow house. Although the hedges were overgrown, the house and yard looked okay. It was more like the people who lived there just didn’t have time to spend on lawn care. They dropped their bikes on the grass and headed over to the door. By the time they got to it, a girl was opening it.
“Hey, guys,” she said as she pulled the door open. Steven introduced Holly, and they all followed her inside.
“Allison, we were wondering what you were doing yesterday morning?” Steven asked as she shut the door behind them with a soft click.
“Yesterday morning? My mom and I went to the mall together, why?” Allison answered with a confused look on her face.
“We don’t believe Chloe was the one who vandalized the school. We’re trying to help her figure out who did,” Lissa explained.
“And you think I did?” Allison asked, raising her voice.
“Not at all,” Holly said stepping in. “It’s just that we want to be thorough and make sure we ask everyone.” She gave Allison a reassuring smile that seemed to calm her down.
“Well, I was with my mom all day long yesterday. She had the day off so we spent some time together. I heard what happened, though. People are saying the school has proof it was her.”
Steven shook his head. “They have a video, but you never see her face. We think someone was trying to make it look like it was her, so that she’d get in trouble. They may even be trying to get the bonfire cancelled.”
They walked into the small living room and sat down on the couch. It was covered with a dark blue slipcover. and potted plants were everywhere in the room. The windows were wide open, letting in plenty of fresh air and sunshine.
“Too bad they didn’t do it to get her grades to fall. That would help me a ton,” Allison said dejectedly.
“Why’s that?” Holly asked as she perched on the edge of the couch.
“I’m trying to be valedictorian this year. I want it so badly for my mom, but I think Chloe will probably end up beating me out for it,” Allison said.
“Hey, you never know,” Lissa said reassuringly. “As long as you don’t give up you still have a chance.”
Allison smiled weakly at her. “I wish I was as confident of that as you are.”
“Lissa’s right. Chloe isn’t a robot. You never know, it might happen,” Steven offered. “But if you give up, you definitely won’t.”
“I know,” Allison sighed. “But I just want it so bad. You don’t understand. My mom would have been valedictorian of her senior class if she hadn’t gotten pregnant with me. All her dreams and hopes flew out the window because of me. I want to do it for her.”
“That’s beautiful,” Holly said smiling. “But I bet your mom will be proud of you, no matter what. I mean, you and Chloe are probably pretty close in grades, right?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Allison said.
“From what I hear, that’s no small feat. Maybe you need to take it a little easier on yourself,” Holly said.
Lissa nodded. “You’re so much smarter than most of the kids in school. Don’t let this get in your head and mess you up.”
Allison began to bite her lip. “You think so?”
“They’re right,” Steven said. “How do you know you’re not getting in your own way? You may be shooting yourself in the foot worrying about her instead of doing your best.”
She nodded. “Maybe you’re right.” She looked at each one of them and smiled. “Thanks, guys. Do you have any idea who it may be?”
“Not yet,” Lissa said, shaking her head. “We still have a few more people to talk to.”
“If you need any help, anything at all, let me know,” Allison said. “Now that you’ve got me thinking about it, I would rather beat Chloe fair and square than let the vandalism thing get in her head and have her grades fall. Besides, the bonfire is fun, and I was kind of looking forward to watching the fireworks.”
Just then, Steven’s phone buzzed. “Good. It looks like Leah’s on her way to Chloe’s house,” he said after checking the message. “That’ll make it easier to talk to her, too.”
“You think Leah may have done this? But she’s best friends with Chloe,” Allison said in a surprised tone of voice.
“Like we said, we’re just making sure we cover all the bases,” Holly explained.
“Still, I think my mind would be blown away if you found out it was her. I mean, they’ve been best friends for forever. If you can’t trust your best friend, who can you trust?” Allison asked.
Steven’s phone buzzed again and they turned and looked at him. “That was Carrie. She said she’s over at the dog park with their Labrador retriever, and we can meet her there if we want to talk.”
“How far is it?” asked Holly. Not that she minded riding a bike around town. It almost made her feel relaxed when she was pedaling, her hair blowing in the breeze. All those years of riding her bike around Cottonwood Springs made her feel very at home on a bike.
“It’s not too far,” explained All
ison. “Just a few blocks east of here. It won’t take much time by bike.”
“Then let’s go. Thanks for talking to us, Allison,” Steven said as he stood up. The girls followed suit.
“Now you’ve got me curious. Let me know what you find out,” Allison said as she walked them to the door.
“Don’t worry, we will,” Lissa said with a smile as they stepped back outside. When they heard the door close behind them, she said, “Looks like we can cross her off the list.”
“I agree,” Holly said. “Let’s hope the final two on our list don’t have alibis.”
“For sure,” Steven said. “Then who would we talk to?”
“I don’t know,” Holly said as they all got on their bikes. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“Is that something that happens often? All of the suspects having alibis?” Lissa asked.
“Not really, but once I was helping out with a mystery at school and one of the suspects lied about where she’d been at the time the crime took place. It really threw me off until I spoke to someone else who told me the suspect hadn’t been where she said she’d been,” Holly recalled.
“That would be a big red flag,” Steven said. “Was that the person who did it?”
“Sure was. Which leads to my next point. Eventually you’ll find out if someone is lying. Usually you find out when they said they were somewhere. Then, if something’s fishy, you ask the people they say can vouch for them. Most of the time, the other people will have no idea what you’re talking about and rat them out.” Holly knew it was more complicated than that, but for simplicity’s sake she left it at that. Steven and Lissa probably weren’t going to be doing any investigating after this, so it really didn’t make any difference.
“With any luck, we won’t have to go through all of that. I’m thinking we’ll get this figured out today, thanks to your investigative skills, Holly,” Lissa said brightly.
“I hope you’re right, Lissa,” Holly said as they continued to pedal.
CHAPTER 18
As they rode toward the dog park, Holly took in the sights. It was interesting to see just how different Springfield was from home and Denver. They were subtle, but there were definitely differences. Springfield didn’t seem nearly as big, but it still had that big city vibe that Denver had with plenty to see and do. Holly hoped that once everything had calmed down, she’d be able to see what the city offered. Until then, she’d focus on helping Chloe.
As they rode up to the dog park, they slowed down a bit. She could tell Steven was scanning the area for Carrie. Once he spotted her, he pointed her out to Holly.
Carrie must have seen them coming, because she stood up from the bench where she’d been sitting and walked over to the fence so she could talk to them.
“Hi,” she said with a bright smile, “what are you all out doing today?”
Steven introduced Holly to Carrie before jumping in about the vandalism. “Did you hear the bonfire’s called off?”
“I sure did,” she gasped. “I can’t believe Chloe would do something like that,” she said shaking her head. “I heard they even have a video that shows her doing it.”
“We don’t think she did it,” Steven said. “We think someone made it look like it was Chloe.”
“Hmm,” Carrie said as she tapped her manicured nail on her chin. Just then, a black Lab came running up to her, bumping her leg. She reached down and scratched behind his ear. “Who do you think might have done it?”
“We’re not sure,” Lissa interjected. “We’re talking to everyone to see if anyone knows something that might help Chloe.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know anything,” she shrugged.
“What did you do yesterday morning now that we’re on vacation? Have you been staying busy?” Steven asked. He smiled at Holly and she nodded approvingly. He was starting to get the hang of asking questions in the right way, so that the person wouldn’t be on the defensive.
“Yesterday? I was asleep all morning. I’d stayed up late the night before binge-watching a series. I don’t think I got up until almost noon.”
Holly made a mental note that Carrie didn’t have an airtight alibi. Sure, she could have really been doing what she said, but she could also be trying to cover her tracks.
“Were you home all day alone?” he asked.
“No, my sister was there on and off,” she said shaking her head. “What have you guys been up to?”
“Mainly getting to know our new cousin here,” Lissa said as she touched Holly on her shoulder.
“New cousin? So you didn’t know she was your cousin before now?” Carrie asked.
“It’s kind of a long story,” Holly explained. “The short version is that my mom moved away a long time ago and never talked about her family. After she died, I found out about these guys.” She smiled at them both. “It’s kind of nice, actually.”
“I’m sorry about your mom,” Carrie said. “Are you going to move here?”
“Nope, just visiting,” she said. “What’s your dog’s name?”
“This is Willie,” Carrie said as she patted him on his side. “He’s the family dog, but I like to bring him here sometimes. He loves playing with all the other dogs. I swear, he’s probably got more friends than I do,” she chuckled.
Holly needed to figure out if Carrie had some sort of motive for wanting to ruin Chloe’s reputation. Since she didn’t have anyone to vouch for where she specifically was at the time of the vandalism, she was still a suspect.
“It’s kind of crazy that someone would do this to Chloe,” Holly began. “Do you have any idea who would do this?”
Carrie scoffed. “To be honest, I’m not so sure she didn’t do it,” she admitted.
Steven looked surprised. “Why would you even say that?”
Carrie rolled her eyes. “Personally, I don’t think she’s the goody-goody everyone else does. I bet she thought she could do anything and decided to do it just for fun. She probably didn’t count on the cameras being there.”
“Does that mean you’re not a fan of Chloe’s?” Holly asked.
“Honestly? Not really. I mean, I don’t have a direct reason to not like her. It’s just…,” she paused as if she were choosing her words carefully. “I don’t get why everyone makes such a big deal over her. Yeah, she throws a party every year. Big whoop. Anybody can do that, but what I really don’t understand is why the guys are always making such a big deal over her,” she grumbled.
Holly bet there was a lot more to it than what Carrie was saying. From the sounds of it, she resented everyone paying attention to Chloe.
“Well, she does always try to help out,” Lissa said. “And she’s good at a lot of stuff.”
“Yeah, which makes it harder for anyone else who would like to be noticed,” Carrie spat. She seemed to collect herself, and she cleared her throat. “I just don’t think she’s all that big of a deal,” she said simply.
Holly had a feeling there was some serious animosity on Carrie’s part. She mentally moved Carrie up to the top of the suspect list.
“Well, I think we’re going to take a break and get something to drink. Have fun with Willie,” Steven said quickly before climbing back on his bike.
“Thanks,” Carrie said brightly as she gave them a small wave.
Steven led them to a nearby gas station where they parked their bikes and headed inside.
“That was a little weird,” Lissa said breaking the silence.
“Yeah, there doesn’t seem to be any love lost there,” Holly agreed. “I think we may need to look into her some more.”
“I agree,” Steven said as they headed for the soft drink cooler. “Want something to drink? My treat.”
Each of them grabbed a can of soda before they stepped over to the checkout counter and Steven paid. Once outside, he took a long drink as he stared at the dog park.
“What are you thinking about?” Holly asked before taking a drink of her soda.
&nbs
p; “I’m thinking Carrie’s problem is all because of Kyle,” Steven said, still thinking.
“Oh?” Lissa asked. “Why? I thought Carrie and Kyle were just friends.”
“They are,” Steven agreed. “But I’m starting to think that maybe Carrie wants more. Kyle’s made it no secret he wants to date Chloe. Maybe Carrie tried to ask him out and he shot her down?”
Holly shrugged. “It’s always possible. Jealousy is a pretty big motivation for trying to frame someone.”
“Exactly,” Steven said. He slid his soda can into the holder on his bike. “Why don’t we head over to Chloe’s so we can catch Leah. I doubt it’s her because they’re best friends, and Carrie just made it so obvious she doesn’t like her.”
“Yeah, but we should probably make sure,” Lissa said nodding.
“I agree. It’s better to be safe than just assume,” Holly pointed out.
“Okay. Let’s go,” Steven said as he turned his bike around.
CHAPTER 19
When the three of them rode their bikes up to Chloe’s house, they saw Chloe and Leah sitting on the porch, enjoying the fresh air. Chloe introduced Holly and Leah before they started to chat.
“Leah was just telling me about some of her paintings,” Chloe beamed. “She’s been taking an online class to learn how to paint watercolors, and she brought some with her to show me.”
“Really?” Lissa asked. “That’s cool. I’ve always wanted to learn, but I’ve never taken the time. I’d love to see them.”
“Yeah, go get them, Leah. I really want to see them, too,” Chloe said.
“They’re in my backpack in the house. Hang on, and I’ll go get them,” she said as she stood up and went in the front door.
“How’s the investigation going?” Chloe asked quietly.
“We found something out, but I don’t want to say anything in front of Leah,” Steven whispered. Chloe nodded right before Leah reappeared. In her hands were paintings of different types of flowers and leaves. She passed them around and everyone took the time to marvel at each one.
Holly Lewis Mystery series Box Set Page 9